Sabrina: The Animated Series
| genre = Comedy Adventure Fantasy | developer = Steven Spielberg Savage Steve Holland Kat Likkel | voices = Mae Whitman Ian McKellen Amy Jo Johnson Melissa Joan Hart Martin Landau Christopher Lee Adam Wylie Cree Summer Pamela Adlon Audrey Wasilewski | opentheme = "Sabrina (She'll Bewitch Ya)" by B*Witched | endtheme = "Sabrina (She'll Bewitch Ya)" | composer = Michael Kamen Mark Mancina Christopher Young Bruce Broughton | executive_producer = Steven Spielberg Haim Saban Shuki Levy Savage Steve Holland Paula Hart Andy Heyward Robby London Michael Maliani | producer = Kevin Murphy Michael Silberkleit Richard Goldwater Dianne Dixon Savage Steve Holland Cydne Clark & Steve Granat Dan Studney | runtime = 22 minutes | company = Universal Television Saban Entertainment Amblin Entertainment Riverdale Productions and Kent/QMA Savage Studios Hartbreak Films DIC Entertainment | distributor = Buena Vista Television (Original airing) Warner Bros. Television Distribution (Rerun) | country = United States Canada | language = English | network = UPN, ABC | audio_format = Dolby Surround | first_aired = | last_aired = | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 65 | list_episodes = #Episodes | followed_by = ''Sabrina: Friends Forever (2002) }} Sabrina: The Animated Series is an American animated television series based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It was produced by Amblin Entertainment, Saban Entertainment, Universal Television, Savage Studios Ltd. and Hartbreak Films in association with DIC Entertainment, HIT Communications and Scottish Television, which was owned by Disney, Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the time. The cartoon is a non-canon spin-off of the live action series that ran on Syndication. In 2002, a movie, Sabrina: Friends Forever is produced by Amblin Entertainment, Saban Brands, Imagine Entertainment and DIC Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in North America and Universal Pictures in International, and a spin-off series, Sabrina's Secret Life, is also produced by Warner Bros. Animation, Universal Cartoon Studios, Amblin Entertainment, Saban Brands, DIC Entertainment, HIT Communications, Tony Collingwood Productions and Scottish Television. Premise Unlike previous incarnations, Sabrina Spellman in this series is depicted as a 12-year-old attending middle school. As in the original comic series, Sabrina lives with her two aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman, and her loud-mouthed cat Salem Saberhagen, all of whom advise Sabrina on the use of magic. It is considered a spin-off of the live-action series and borrows certain elements from it, but is obviously set in an alternate universe, as it contradicts the live-action show's premise of Sabrina not knowing about magic prior to her sixteenth birthday. Most episodes center on the typical problems of middle school, along with those that stemmed from Sabrina's inexperience with or misuse of various magic, witchcraft, and extremely powerful and complex spells. Sabrina and her best friend Chloe would often use magic (often from the "Spooky Jar"; a cookie jar containing a genie-like being in the family's kitchen) for all sorts of perceived emergencies, ranging from trying to fit into skinny new clothes to turning Sabrina's crush Harvey into a superhero. By the end of each episode, her innate magical abilities would unintentionally backfire and Sabrina would learn that using magic usually is not the solution to her day-to-day problems. Characters * Sabrina Spellman Sabrina is a half witch–half mortal that won't become magically empowered until she's sixteen, but she is able to borrow spells from her aunts Hilda and Zelda using a magical "Spooky Jar", which she often does. However, she usually finds that her meddling turns situations from bad to worse. Her friend Chloe is aware of Sabrina's magic but Harvey Kinkle, another friend and her romantic interest, isn't. She is secretly in love with Harvey and wants one day to marry him. She wears a white tank top with a pink stripe, a green moon-shaped earring paired with a yellow star-shaped earring, pink skirt, pink hair-clips in her bangs, with white and pink sneakers. When she casts a spell the magic produced is pink and yellow. She is voiced by Mae Whitman. * Hilda Spellman and Zelda Spellman While Hilda suggests they bend the rules a little and use magic to get ahead, Zelda is determined to say no right up until the moment she gives up. Hilda is more carefree and reckless than her cautious sister Zelda, and, although they do butt heads sometimes, they are still sisters. In this series and Sabrina's Secret Life, Hilda and Zelda both have the appearance of teenagers, as this was the punishment they received from Enchantra for "abusing magic" in the past. In the animated series, Zelda wears a red blouse and blue bell bottom pants in addition to a pair of blue glasses, and has long red hair. Whenever she casts a spell, the magic produced is always blue and yellow. Hilda wears a purple minidress and has olive skin, with brown hair that is shorter than Zelda's. When she casts a spell the magic produced is purple and yellow. They are both voiced by Amy Jo Johnson (Zelda) and Melissa Joan Hart (Zelda), known for playing Sabrina in the Showtime film adaptation and the ABC series. * Salem Saberhagen Salem knows the right buttons to push to talk Sabrina into just about anything, and he does it guiltlessly—until he's caught. Salem was once a powerful wizard, but he was locked into a cat-form because he was constantly trying to take over the world. However, he makes up for his predicament with magical trinkets that help Sabrina in some situations. He is voiced by Ian McKellen (replacing Charlton Heston, who also voiced Salem in the 1996 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch TV series). * Uncle Quigley Uncle Quigley is an original character created for the animated series. He is Sabrina's maternal great-uncle, and the household's adult guardian. Because Uncle Quigley doesn't have any magic powers, one understands that Sabrina's mother is a mortal. He is voiced by Martin Landau. * Chloe Flan Chloe is Sabrina's best friend. She's the only mortal besides Uncle Quigley who knows Sabrina's secret. She is voiced by Cree Summer. * Harvey Kinkle Harvey has a cute and sweet personality. While he only admits to Sabrina that she is his "best pal," he likes her very much. However, Harvey is unaware Sabrina is a witch although often sees the results of the magic himself. He is voiced by Adam Wylie. * Gemini "Gem" Stone Gemini is snobby, pampered and very prissy. Gem lives down the street and sees Sabrina as her main competition for Harvey's attention (whom Gem is interested in as well), though Harvey likes Sabrina more. She is voiced by Pamela Adlon. * Spookie Jar Spookie Jar is a genie (or possibly a demon of some kind) who resides in a purple cookie jar in Sabrina's kitchen. Whenever Sabrina needs a special spell, she can get one from the Spookie Jar, but they rarely turn out the way she expects. Spookie Jar speaks entirely in rhymes. He is voiced by Christopher Lee. * Perry "Pi" McDonald Pi is Harvey's best friend. He is very smart and quite unusual in his own special way. His eyes are never seen because his pork pie hat obscures them. He has been described by Sabrina as "totally out of it and really smart at the same time." According to the episode "Upside Down Town", it is implied that he is of Chinese descent. He is voiced by Audrey Wasilewski. * Slugloafe the School Bully Slugloafe is the fat bully who calls Harvey Kinkle by his last name. His real name is Horace. There have been times where he compliments Harvey. He is voiced by Keanu Reeves. * Bernard Bernard is a small, bald, nerdy boy with glasses. He is often bullied by Slugloafe and easily bossed around by Gem. He is voiced by Tara Strong. * Tim the Witch Smeller Tim is a witch hunter who appears in "Most Dangerous Witch", "Enchanted Vacation", and "Documagicary". He was previously bullied by witches as a child due to his lack of magical powers, except his immortality, even though his mother was a witch. For this reason, he viewed witches as evil and so he collects them as trophies for revenge along with his sidekick aardvark named Elton. Tim wears a hat with a witch cauldron marked with a ban sign on it. Tim is voiced by Dom DeLuise and Elton is voiced by Robert Bergen. * Enchantra Enchantra is the queen of all witches and head of the Witches' Council. She resembles somewhat of a dominatrix with a tight-fitting red catsuit with a flowing cape and black, over-the-knee boots. She speaks in a thick British accent and has long black hair, tan skin and green eyes. When she casts spells, the magic produced is red and purple. Enchantra is voiced by Adrienne Barbeau. * Gem's parents Gem's parents are the richest people in town. They first appeared in "Witch Switch"; when Sabrina wishes herself to be rich they almost sent Sabrina to Cambridge when they found out she got a C in her report, but later changed their mind after Sabrina unwished herself as being rich. They also appeared in "Stone Broke" when they lost their money and moved into Sabrina's house until their dog struck oil. Gem's father is voiced by George Clooney and Gem's mother is voiced by Jennifer Love Hewitt. Production The series debuted in 1999. Sabrina had previously appeared in an animated format on The Archie Show (animated by Filmation), but the popularity of the live-action Sabrina, the Teenage Witch sitcom formed part of the basis for this spin-off series. The series was developed by Steven Spielberg, Savage Steve Holland and Kat Likkel, and Spielberg and Holland served as showrunners and executive producers of the series. As such, the series reflected some of the irreverent style of humor seen in Eek! The Cat. Celebrity voice cameos in this series included Mr. T, Jason Alexander, James Avery, Rene Auberjonois, George Clooney, Robert Costanzo, Thomas Dekker, Dom DeLuise, Michael Clarke Duncan, Keith David, Jason David Frank, Tony Goldwyn, Gilbert Gottfried, Mark Hamill, Jennifer Love Hewitt, John Ingle, Tony Jay, James Earl Jones, Alex D. Linz, Mako, Kenneth Mars, Kevin McDonald, Malcolm McDowell, Alyssa Milano, Haley Joel Osment, Hayden Panettiere, William Morgan Sheppard, David Spade, David Ogden Stiers, Catherine Sutherland, Steven Webber, Michael-Leon Wooley, Samuel E. Wright and "Weird Al" Yankovic. Melissa Joan Hart, who starred as Sabrina in the live-action sitcom, acted as producer of this series, but Mae Whitman voiced Sabrina. Melissa instead with Amy Jo Johnson voiced Sabrina's two aunts, Hilda and Zelda, originally played by Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea. Salem is voiced by Ian McKellen replacing Charlton Heston, who also voiced Salem in both the film and live-action series (first voice). The theme song is sung by B*Witched which is written by Stephen Schwartz and the music score composed by Michael Kamen, Mark Mancina, Christopher Young and Bruce Broughton. Series overview Episodes Broadcast The series first ran in syndication on UPN (on Disney's One Too weekday afternoon block) and ABC (on Disney's One Saturday Morning block) for one season, with 65 episodes produced. The series reran on both Disney Channel from September 3, 2002 to September 2, 2004 and Toon Disney from September 3, 2002 to September 5, 2004. Beginning in 2003, the series aired on the Syndicated DIC Kids Network E/I block. During the 2006-2007 television season, the series returned as part of CBS' new KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS and was briefly part of the KEWLopolis cartoon lineup. On September 19, 2009, the series returned to CBS as part of the Cookie Jar TV cartoon lineup. Reruns of the series were aired on the "This Is for Kids" block on the TV channel This from Fall 2012 to October 2013. As of 2017, reruns of the series started airing on the Starz channel, Starz Kids & Family, and the series is also available to stream on Starz's streaming service. Home media On August 28, 2001, Warner Home Video and Saban Entertainment released 2 VHS releases titled "Sabrina in Love" and "Salem's World", each containing 2 episodes. a DVD release titled "Sabrina's World" was released on the same day, and contained the same episodes from both VHS tapes. In 2004, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released 3 VHS's/DVD's titled "Witch in Training", "Bat Attack!" and "A Witchmas Carol", each containing 3 episodes (4 on the DVDs). The DVDs were re-released by Universal Studios and NCircle Entertainment in 2007. On October 17, 2006, Shout! Factory and Warner Bros. Animation released The Very Best of Sabrina: the Animated Series on DVD in Region 1. This 2-disc set features fourteen episodes from the series. This release has been discontinued and is out of print as Shout! Factory no longer has the distribution rights to DIC properties. On January 3, 2011, it was announced that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series, under license from Warner Bros. Animation and Saban Brands. They subsequently released Sabrina the Animated Series - Volume 1 (which contains 32 episodes of the series) and Sabrina the Animated Series - A Touch of Magic (a 10 episode best-of collection) on DVD in Region 1 on February 15, 2011. These releases have been discontinued and are now out of print. In the Philippines, Viva Video and Cookie Jar Entertainment released Sabrina the Animated Series - Volume 1 (which contains the first 32 episodes of the series) and Sabrina the Animated Series - A Touch of Magic (a 10 episode best-of collection) on DVD for the Philippine market. Sabrina the Animated Series DVD collection episodes include: "Field Trippin'", "Picture Perfect", "Shrink To Fit", "The Importance of Being Norma", "This Is Your Nine Lives", "Witch Switch", "Boogie Shoes", "Boy Meets Bike" and "Most Dangerous Witch". In the United Kingdom, budget distributor Prism Leisure and Fremantle Home Entertainment released "Sabrina in Love" and "Salem's World" on DVD which had the same 2 episodes as the US VHS releases respectively, but including an additional episode. An exclusive UK DVD titled "Witchy Girls" was also released in the same year, also containing 3 episodes. Merchandise An 11-inch Sabrina fashion doll was released by the company Bambola. Several other small plastic toys, including a few figurines and a Polly Pocket-esque Sabrina doll were sold in stores while the series was in production. DVD releases On August 28, 2001, Warner Home Video released "Sabrina's World", a DVD that contained 4 episodes of the series. In 2007, Warner Home Video and Universal Studios Home Entertainment released two DVDs of the series, "Witch in Training" and "A Witchmas Carol". On October 17, 2006, Shout! Factory and Warner Home Video released The Very Best of Sabrina: the Animated Series on DVD in Region 1. This 2-disc set features fourteen episodes from the series. This release has been discontinued and is out of print as Shout! Factory no longer has the distribution rights to the series. On January 3, 2011, it was announced that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series, under license from Warner Bros. Animation. They subsequently released Sabrina the Animated Series - Volume 1 (which contains 32 episodes of the series) and Sabrina the Animated Series - A Touch of Magic (a 10 episode best-of collection) on DVD in Region 1 on February 15, 2011. In the Philippines, Viva Video and Warner Bros. Animation released Sabrina the Animated Series - Volume 1 (which contains the first 32 episodes of the series) and Sabrina the Animated Series - A Touch of Magic (a 10 episode best-of collection) on DVD for the Philippine market. Sabrina the Animated Series DVD collection episodes include: "Field Trippin'", "Picture Perfect", "Shrink To Fit", "The Importance of Being Norma", "This Is Your Nine Lives", "Witch Switch", "Boogie Shoes", "Boy Meets Bike" and "The Most Dangerous Witch". Video games On August 17, 2000, Simon & Schuster Interactive's Knowledge Adventure, Havas Interactive, Universal Interactive Studios and Konami officially announced the video game version of Sabrina The Animated Series: Zapped! for the Game Boy Color system. It was released on November 22, 2000, and followed by Sabrina The Animated Series: Magical Adventure for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh computer systems, released in October 2000. On September 4, 2001, it was announced that Simon & Schuster Interactive and Universal Interactive Studios had acquired the rights to the series, under license from Archie Comics based on the video game license. They subsequently released Sabrina The Animated Series: Spooked! (which contains the first levels for Game Boy Color platform). It was released on November 6, 2001. Comic book While Sabrina: The Animated Series was airing, Archie Comics printed a comic spin-off for the show. The first issue was dated January 2000 (meaning it was on-sale in late 1999), and it lasted for 37 issues. In order to tie the plot in with their ''Sabrina'' series, it was explained in the first issue that Repulsa the Goblin Gueen had sent Sabrina back in time to relive her pre-teen years, so that she would be out of the way while Repulsa attempted to conquer Enchantra's realm. In issue 38, the Repulsa plot was resolved, and the comic book returned to chronicling the teenage Sabrina in the next issue. See also * Sabrina the Teenage Witch * Sabrina: Friends Forever * Sabrina's Secret Life * List of animated spin-offs from prime time shows References External links * About Sabrina Animated Series at DHX Media * * * A fan Site Category:1990s American animated television series Category:1999 American television series debuts Category:2000 American television series endings Category:2000s American animated television series Category:American children's animated television series Category:American children's comedy television series Category:American children's fantasy television series Category:American children's television sitcoms Category:Animated children's television sitcoms Category:Teen sitcoms Category:Television series by DIC Entertainment Category:First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Category:Sabrina the Teenage Witch Category:Witchcraft in television Category:Television programs based on Archie Comics Category:Magic in television Category:Child versions of cartoon characters Category:Prequel television series Category:Television series by Warner Bros. 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